Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-11-01
TUESDAY. NOVEMBER !, 1887.
Mahone's Candidate

In the last No. of the North AmCri-
can Rcric,e is an article on JOIN
SHERMAN as a possible Candidate
for President" 1t assumes as settled
that he would carry Virginia, West Vir-
GINA, and other States which could not
he carried by any candidate less popu-
lar with the negroes. II declares that
SHTRMAN is the favorite of General
MALONE, and that MALONE being a
representative southern man, his sup.
port of SHERMAN is additional proof
that the latter could break the solid
South, and, breaking it, be elected to
the highest Office in the republic.
But the article goes further and as
sUmes that MAHoNE's candidate can
carry some Of the southern States be-
cause he was known to be in favor of
the passage of the infamous force bill
of 1871, from which Mr.. RANDALL and
other northern men saved the people of
the South-a bill so outrageously de-
structive of free institutions that even
Mr.. BLAINE looked upon it as an in
friDPement OF the rights Of the States.
The bill was, in fact, utterly subversive
of the principles Of republican govern
ment and if it had become law the
United States would ere now have ceased
to exist in any other shape than as a
poor imitation of the government Of
Russia.
What was the force bill l.? We will
let a Republican tell. Mr. COOPER,
the chairman of the Republican State
Central Committee, of Pennsylvania,
in his book entitled american Poll
tics" says that the act provided that
the refusal of any southern Governor
to call upon the President Of the United
States for aid to put down the men
Chat is, the Democrats, of cOurse)
who were conspiring to take away sny
ones (negro's) rights as citizen should
be desmeda denial by such State of the
equal protection of the laws required
by the fourteenth amendment. This,
recollect, was TO be justified by what
was to be called ga conspiracy, that
is, the kuklux klans were to be treated
as conspirators, and the President of
Al TF,,sS,1 l.t.tru =, 10 a,,fhnriya1
to suspend the privilege of the writ of
haJcas corpus in sny district, and sup
press any instruction" by the army
and navy.
In a word, this force bill which Ma
HOMES candidate for Preside t favored
was an attempt to base Legislation upon
a positive lie. The Federal Constitu-
tion provides that the privilege OF the
writ of hQbeds corpus shall not be
suspended except in eases OF "inva-
sion or rebellion y; and, therefore, in
order to evade that constitutional pro-
vision and give the Republican Presi-
dent a color of right to suspend that
writ, the force bill was conceived and
almost passed. 1t WAS wicked, ma
hcious, partisan, devilish scheme for
making the antics Of a Kuklux Khan
figure as q rebellion" And this
diabolism is expected to commend
JOIN SHERMAN to the favor of the
people of the South
If this wicked scheme had succeeded
the South would have been Africanized.
Every State and every county and city
in which the negroes constituted the
majority OF its population would have
been turned over to the tender mercies
of that race. Eastern Virginia would
ere low have become waste, and her
white sons would have been crowded
utof the State not only by unspeakable
wrongs but by the fear of starvation.
Is there a white man in Virgini. will
ing to endorse SHERMAN by voting for
MALONE for United States senator =?
Can love Of Office, or want of money,
or any other consideration, induce
loyal Virginians thus to abase them
selves? To-day week the answer will
be given.